HackerYou

HackerYou

About

About

HackerYou offers 9-week, full-time front end web development courses, and 6-week, part-time web development courses and in Toronto, Canada. HackerYou’s full-time Front-End Web Development Immersive bootcamp covers HTML5 & CSS3, responsive design, JavaScript, jQuery, API and WordPress as well as non-technical skills like personal branding, finding and managing clients, and growing a business. HackerYou's part-time courses are Web Development Fundamentals & Advanced Web Development, JavaScript Fundamentals & Advanced JavaScript, UX Fundamentals & Advanced UX, and a Full-Stack Masterclass. Part-time classes either run in the evenings, twice a week for 6 weeks or on weekends, once a week for 6 weeks.

The programs focus on hands-on, project-based learning from industry-leading professionals with small classes and a 10:1 ratio of students to instructors. By the end of the web development programs, students have a great website and portfolio, and the knowledge, tools, and skills needed to succeed as developers. For the job seekers, HackerYou also helps with crafting a technical resume, nailing an interview, and negotiating their salary.

HackerYou is ideal for people looking to climb the corporate ladder, upgrade their skills, or start a new career. Prospective applicants will need to fill out an online form describing their background and experience, and participate in an interview.

Courses

Courses

Advanced JavaScript (Part-time)

The course will builds upon the JavaScript and jQuery fundamentals learned in the introductory course. In the course, we will cover advanced topics such as building modular and reusable code, working with HTML5 audio and video, integrating Google Maps, and most importantly working with AJAX and JSON APIS to pull in data from other websites and services. As always, everything is taught through a series of hands-on exercises, code-alongs and projects.
Graduates of JavaScript Fundamentals are eligible to take Advanced JavaScript for only $500.

Financing

Deposit

N/A

Getting in

Minimum Skill Level

Strong understanding of the basics of JavaScript & jQuery required to take this class.

Placement Test

Yes

Interview

Yes

Advanced UX Design (Part-time)

In this course, students will explore advanced topics such as emotional design, empathy mapping, systematic design, human-centred design and user testing. Students will improve and apply their skills to effectively define problems, scope target audiences, iterate, conduct “discovery phases,” conduct design research, prototype, critique, handle errors, and future map, among others. Lessons will be discovered by participants through hands-on, project based exercises. For their capstone project, students will use design thinking to solve a problem of their choosing, giving each student the opportunity to build a portfolio piece relevant to their interests. Have an idea for an app? Use this project to finally give it the attention it deserves by taking the idea through every step of the UX Design process. You’ll create a unique portfolio piece that showcases your UX skills - and maybe even a product ready for development!
Graduates of UX Design Fundamentals are eligible to take Advanced UX Design for only $500.

Advanced Web Development (Part-time)

This course will give students the skills needed to design and create a responsive website for laptops, phones, tablets, and beyond using the latest HTML5 and CSS3 techniques. It will also dive deeper into CSS, Flexbox, transitions, animations, SASS, JavaScript and jQuery and teach participants the very latest and greatest techniques for creating even richer web experiences.
Graduates of Web Development Fundamentals are eligible to take Advanced Web Development for only $500.

Financing

Deposit

N/A

Getting in

Minimum Skill Level

Students must have basic HTML and CSS knowledge, or have completed Introduction to Web Development (or equivalent) to take this course.

Placement Test

No

Interview

Yes

Full Stack Masterclass (Part-time)

This unique course is designed to help bootcamp graduates prepare for the next stage in their career.
You did it - through hard work and dedication, you became a professional developer sans computer science degree. But you know that there are things people learn in Computer Science programs that would be useful to you. If you could combine your practical web development skills with some of these foundational Computer Science concepts, all while applying what you’re learning to develop full-stack development skills, you’d be almost unstoppable.
Enter HackerYou’s Full-Stack Masterclass. Using a format that’s entirely new to HackerYou based on what we know bootcamp graduates want and need, this 57-hour, nine-week part-time course is designed to fill in your gaps, push you to level up and ultimately narrow the gap between you and the Full-Stack Developer you admire most.

Financing

Deposit

N/A

Getting in

Minimum Skill Level

Code 2175). Freelance web developers are welcome to apply.
This course is ideal for Bootcamp graduates (whether you attended HackerYou’s bootcamp or another one) and self-taught developers.

Placement Test

Yes

Interview

Yes

JavaScript Fundamentals (Part-time)

Learning JavaScript and jQuery will take your websites to the next level by making them dynamic and interactive. This course will give any HTML & CSS developer the skills they need to unlock the full potential of front-end web development. This course will start with an introduction to JavaScript and the fundamentals of the programming language. We will then work our way through understanding and using jQuery, a JavaScript library, to select, interact and manipulate elements on our page.

Financing

Deposit

N/A

Getting in

Minimum Skill Level

Strong grasp of HTML & CSS

Placement Test

Yes

Interview

Yes

UX Design Fundamentals (Part-time)

Forget about other UX courses you’ve heard about - this course goes far beyond just wire-framing. In this course, you’ll dive into topics such as cognitive design patterns in UI & UX, micro-interactions principles, personals and mental models, interaction design foundations, the art & science of interviewing users, and finally, visual language principles, and more. As always, lessons will be discovered by participants through a series of hands-on, project-based exercises, and through a final project where students will have the chance to use design thinking to solve a specific, real-world problem of their choosing. This will help bring all the concepts together with an original, portfolio-worthy display of their UX skills.

Financing

Deposit

N/A

Getting in

Minimum Skill Level

This course is perfect for people working as designers or developers, as well as graduates of our part-time design or web development courses.

Placement Test

Yes

Interview

Yes

Web Development Fundamentals (Part-time)

Join us for HackerYou's most popular part-time course. You'll learn HTML5 and CSS3, build websites and collaborate with a group of people just like you – people who know that learning to code is going to help them take their careers to the next level. With an intense focus on hands-on, project-based learning, this course will give you the opportunity to learn directly from some of Toronto’s most talented developers and and discover how to create beautiful, functional websites from scratch.

Financing

Deposit

N/A

Getting in

Minimum Skill Level

This course is designed for beginners.

Placement Test

No

Interview

Yes

Web Development Immersive (Bootcamp)

At HackerYou’s nine-week bootcamp, you’ll learn HTML5, CSS3, responsive design, JavaScript, jQuery, APIs, React and Firebase.– all the skills you need to become a junior web developer. The program is nine weeks long, during which you’ll join us at HackerYou HQ five days a week from 10 am to 6 pm daily. We’ve assembled an all-star team of talented professional developers and they can’t wait to teach you everything they know. With 315 hours of class time and hundreds of exercises, plus a major project assignment every step of the way designed to help you to develop the skills you’ll need to succeed as a junior web developer, you’ll leave HackerYou’s bootcamp not only with a certificate, but also ready to jump into a brand new role. Get ready for the learning experience of a lifetime.

Financing

Deposit

N/A

Getting in

Minimum Skill Level

Ontario Secondary School Diploma or equivalent, or for Mature Students, you must have achieved a score of 18 on the Wonderlic Mature Test.

In the beginning of 2016 I attended both part time courses; Intro to Web Development & Advanced Web development, leading right into the 9-week Web Development Bootcamp.

Prior to attending HackerYou, my only foundation on any sort of coding was from a couple months spent on codeacademy.com and codeschool.com.

I was coming from a totally unrelated work environment, but decided to take the lunge on this exciting opportunity to be employed after such a short program.

In summary:

- HackerYou was an amazing experience

- The Community is like no other, mentors/instructors are extremely helpful and patient

- The learning space is a beautiful open concept area right downtown Toronto

- Job search support from course completion to employment is grade A

I became employed within 1 month of finishing the 9-week bootcamp and have been employed as a developer ever since. HackerYou has a great networking environment, many grads are working all over this city and a ton of great employers have become familiar with the the program. I highly recommend attending HackerYou if you are looking for a career change, or for a career with many opportunities. This program can not only provide the right knowledge to jumpstart a career in coding, but also a supporting community and a never ending amount of opportunities in the tech industry.

I'm just finishing up Part-Time Web Development and I have never been more excited about coding than I am now.

I was looking for a career change and I had no experience with coding prior HackerYou, but was interested in the Full-Time Bootcamp. After speaking with the Admissions Coordinator, he advised that I take the part-time course to have a good foundation before applying to the bootcamp. I decided on the Saturday classes since I was working full-time at the time. There are no classes during long weekends, so sometimes it's hard to recall what we previously learned, but working on our projects on our own between classes helped keep what we learned top-of-mind.

In terms of the material, I learned more in the first 5 classes that I thought I would learn the entire course. Some classes can be fast-paced and have a lot of information, but it's not a lecture-type lesson. You are constantly coding along with the instructor and there is always a mentor available to help. The code-alongs helped a lot when I wanted to look back on how to do certain things for my projects.

I started off with no experience at all and now I'm in the process of building my own website for my last project! It's crazy how much you can learn in such a small amount of time. The instructors/mentors are always available and willing to help. They also give constructive feedback to each student after each project so that they're able to better themselves for the next project. In addition to the course, the community is fantastic - everyone I've met at HackerYou is extremely friendly and welcoming.

Overall, I've very impressed with HackerYou and would recommend the part-time course to anyone who is curious about or wants to get into web development. I believe that I now have a strong foundation for front-end development and am excited to apply to the full-time bootcamp!

**As a first note, I would highly recommend taking the advanced UX course after the fundamentals. The content becomes much more focused and dives deeper into real design problems that you could expect to see in any design career. **

I wanted to level up my UX skills, and after some research HackerYou stood out as the best option on the market. After completing both courses, I can confirm that the program lives up to it's reputation.

What you will take out of the course really depends on the level that you come in at, and what you want out of it. As a designer looking to specialize in UX, I really appreciated the opportunities to apply the concepts from the course in my everyday work, and I felt that I was able to rocket my career ahead a couple of steps with the deeper perspectives and new frameworks that I was exposed to.

I highly recommend this course for anyone new to UX specifically or looking to expand on their design skills in a human centered design direction.

I was fairly familiar with HTML from about 8 years ago before this course. I decided to sign up for their Accelerated Intro to Web Development Fundamentals/Advanced because I figured a course would really help brush me up and I am also very interested in participating in the Hackeryou Full-time Immersive course (bootcamp).

Structure: The course is sectioned into Fundamentals and Advanced Fundamentals. Each is four days, 10am-6pm with support and mentoring on Fridays and over the weekends. Class is short lectures that feature code-alongs mixed with short bouts of independent or team-work. It is hard to ever feel left behind as their was a very good balance of 3 instructors to about 22 students. There was always time to ask questions before or after class or in Slack or you could simply look over your digital notes which you have permanent access too. Great mentorship I met so many nice alumni!

Curriculum: the Basics of HTML/CSS all the way to Responsive Design and a short but sweet appetizer of Javascript. I had a bit of a leg up having spent the months prior self-teaching HTML and CSS but this course really can get a beginner to the level that they can publish/manage their own site.

Overall: I had a great time and learned a lot. It was a great introduction to the community of HackerYou and a nice way to see if you are the type of person that can handle an immersive course. It was only two weeks of 10-6 but you are learning something nearly every hour of each day and putting it into practise. I definitely feel more confident in my Web Development skills and feel like I accomplished something great.

I was familiar with web1.0–era HTML and wanted to introduce myself to the fundamentals of HTML and CSS so that I can make simple websites (landing sites; blogs; marketing sites). This course offered a novel structure that appealed to me: an intensive, full-time, two-week dive into front-end web development. Although it times it felt like drinking from a fire hose, the course was well structured. The teachers are uniformly engaging and the learning style—short "lectures" interspersed with longer code-alongs and independent work—suits the material well. It's a surprisingly fun environment for eight-hour days spent at your computer. HackerYou gives its students plenty of support, with before- and after-hours mentoring sessions; permanent access to the robust course notes; and, through Slack, access to the broader community of teachers and alumni.

One note of caution: this is a very time-intensive one-week course (or two-week course, if you pair it with the Advanced section). If you have the support of family members or your time is otherwise unencumbered, this is a remarkably quick and thorough way to get yourself up to speed on the best practices in web-development. If you do not have this, you might consider the part-time web-development course instead.

I have a small child at home, as well as freelance work in another field. Therefore I found it difficult to review the material nightly, which, given how much you learn each day, is very important. I am just completing the course now, and trust that time and practice—as well as occasionally asking for support from the HY community—will ensure that everything I learned truly sinks in.

I am currently finishing up HackerYou's part time JavaScript course after completing their part time Web Development course beforehand. Having come to web development (and any kind of coding) as a complete novice, HackerYou provided an open and supportive learning community with great instructors, real world problems and solutions, and excellent learning opportunities. This proved true with the JavaScript course as well. Our instructor broke down intimidating topics and concepts into simple, real world fundamentals and at no point during the course did I feel intimidated to ask questions about anything. Our instructor and mentors in the course are all professionals in the industry, which gave our class a lot of insight into how the topics we were learning in class applied in a real world environment. I really like the hands on approach HackerYou applies in its classrooms and I am walking away from this course confident and very ready to learn more.

I took the part time JavaScript program this summer, 2018, and I thought it was a very good class. It gives a really good view into the language and some of the add-on libraries and languages like jQuery, React, and Node.

It was a challenging course but well taught. The teacher was nice and accommodating, as were the mentors, and all were very knowledgeable.

Be sure sure to ask any and every questions you might have and try not to miss any classes as it’s easy to fall behind.

Classes were in a nice space that wasn’t too difficult to get to…if you don’t mind the streetcar.

This was my second part time course with HackerYou and can't tell enough what a valuable experience it was. The instructor and the mentors are super supportive and patient with the students.

The course structure is updated as per the industry standards and all best practices are followed. A variety of topics were covered ranging from fundamentals to advanced. It feels great to be a part of this HackerYou community. I recommend this course to everyone looking to get familiar with JavaScript and also looking to apply for the Bootcamp.

I’ve always had an interest in web-development but I wanted to make sure it was a good fit before committing to making a career change, so I enrolled in the Spring 2018 Intro to Web Dev course. I chose HackerYou after reading many positive reviews, specifically on Reddit and Course Report, of their supportive community and their dedicated instructors.

Truthfully, before I took the part-time course, I definitely debated how beneficial taking this course would be; if web development was something I could have taught myself— yes, but it probably would not have gone as smoothly. And now that I’ve completed the part-time course, I can confidently say I would’ve make the same decision if I had to do it again. The course is very well-structured, and the instructor and mentors make the course material clear and easy to understand.

I’ve learned far more than I could’ve taught myself in the same amount of time, and in a very organized way. The projects assigned allow you to challenge yourself by applying the material you learn throughout the course. I would recommend this course to anyone’s who’s interested in web development. It was very rewarding and I cannot wait to see what the full-time bootcamp has to offer!

I went into HackerYou not knowing what it was going to be like. As a complete newbie to the web development, I learned more than I can imagine. I tried learning online on my own but like most people, it just wasn't fun and enjoying. Now I have just finished the Part-Time Web Development Course and I don't regret it one bit. I met new friends and learned HTML5/CSS3/JQUERY at a high level. The instructor and mentors were amazing and I couldn't have done it without their help. One thing I could mention is that I wish we had more outside the box assignments such as the flip-card. I really enjoyed the level of difficulty on those.

I have completed the part-time Web Development course - Spring 2018, and it is fantastic. I started with an online course, but didn't find that I was getting what I wanted out of it - not my style of learning. So I went looking for a classroom-instructed course and a graduate of the HackerYou bootcamp convinced me this was the place.

As a female making a move into the tech realm, I have found HackerYou to be an inclusive and supportive environment. I never feel like there's a stupid question, and the extra support is always right there.
I like that there is an instructor with two back-up instructors in every class, so someone is ready to jump in to offer extra help whenever needed.

For the three projects, the degree of complexity increases at a good pace. They also have a wide enough scope that I was able to incorporate a wide range of the course curriculum.

The volume of what I've learned over the past couple months is far more than I expected. I am excited to be a part of the HackerYou bootcamp this summer - I would not have been accepted without this course.

I moved to Toronto on 4th of April and started with my Web Dev course on the very same day! I had applied for the Spring bootcamp and did not clear the tech test and was recommended the part time Web Dev course, i feel it was the right recommendation because it seems like a good introductory step towards everyone who has interest in joining the bootcamp.

It was the best decision i made for myself for a career in web development. The instructor and the mentors are very supportive and patient with the students. Even with prior experience with HTML and CSS i got to learn so many new things and felt comfortable with the course from the very first week. I am very confident in developing my own sites now!

The course structure is great with all the latest industry standards being followed and the teaching approach is fab ! The overall experience is really valuable and it feels great to be a part of this awesome HackerYou community. I recommend everyone looking for a career in web development to enroll for this cource. Looking forward to apply for the Fall Bootcamp !

I am just finishing up the Part-Time Web Dev course at HackerYou and I have loved my experience. I originally started looking at HackerYou for their Web Development Bootcamp. Before applying, I heard it was tough to get into the Bootcamp without taking the Part-Time Web Dev course. Even so, I applied with only some quick 2-week self-taught coding knowledge. I didn't pass the tech challenge but was invited to join the part-time course.

In this course, I have become very comfortable with HTML, CSS, and some basic JavaScript. More importantly, the people at HackerYou are wonderful. The mentors are supportive and patient with complete beginners.

After applying to the Bootcamp for the second time, I have now been accepted. If you're looking to eventually join the Bootcamp, the part-time web dev course is definitely a step in the right direction. Join the HackerYou community! You won't regret it :)

I am in the final days of completing the part time Intro to Web-Development and advanced topics at HackerYou. I've enjoyed the course immensely, and have enjoyed the challenging learning environment. You really need to put in 10-15 hours a week above and beyond the course material covered in the 6 hour a week course, however it's only 12 weeks, and the amount you learn in that short period of time is incredible. Week 1 is starting with learning what the internet is, and by weeks 11 to 13 you are making responsive web pages with navigations, flex-boxes and animation! The instructor and mentors are great, if they are going too fast you can ask them to slow down and/or go over a concept as needed The in-class environment I found very helpful in bouncing off ideas, and collaborating solutions with others in the class. Questions and frustrations can be immediately resolved when others are around to help, easier than it would be in a online-learning environment. I throughouly enjoyed the course, and would like to see more take home exercises to practice coding with, and am looking forward to taking the part-time JavaScript course in the future.

I would highly recommend HackerYou to everyone who is interested in learning more about web development! I completed the Spring 2018 part time Intro to Web Dev course and I fell in love with it. I was looking to steer my career in a different direction from what I have been doing for 4 years, and always had an interest in web development so I decided to try the part time course to see if I really enjoyed the work. I looked around and saw all the great reviews about HackerYou and only heard great things from fellow coworkers who were alumni and decided to apply. It was the best decision I've made because I really fell in love with it and found that I can see myself changing my career path and doing web development long term. I had no prior knowledge in development but after completing this course and with the help of my awesome instructor, Tom, and mentors, Jen, Darshana, and Aly, I feel like I have a really great understanding of HTML and CSS. I was able to put this to the test with the projects we were assigned during the course. It was really exciting to use what I've learned and produce an end product that I had no prior knowledge of 4 months ago! After I complete the part time course, I will be going the full-time bootcamp to continue my education! I am so excited, and can't stress enough about how great HackerYou has been! :)

I started off with the part-time Intro and Advanced Web Development courses before being accepted into the Bootcamp this past January.

I was nervous about starting out because, prior to the part-time intro courses I had almost zero experience with coding. That didn't matter. The people at HackerYou, from instructors to administration staff to the incredible CEO, create such a wonderfully supportive environment for you to learn in. The instructor to student ratio is excellent, there are, at most, 12 students to every instructor and when things got real intense there was always more help available for me and everyone else.

You have 3 teachers, a bootcamp buddy and a number of after hours "fishbowl" sessions for you to squeeze for every ounce of knowledge and help you need.

Everybody there understands people learn at different speeds and in different ways. Everybody there cares about you and wants you to succeed. I've never been to a school that gave a crap about me until I went to HackerYou.

The assistance they provide during your job hunt is unparalleled. There are weekly group meetings with the CEO Heather, alumni job posting boards, cover letter approvals. Any time I had a question during my job hunt, even if it was just a "Does this email sound good to you?", I could bring it to Heather and she would happily give me some advice. After one month of job hunting you can book one on ones with her for more focussed help.

In the first month following our graduation a third of our cohort had accepted offers. I started working 6 weeks after graduation. Before this I worked for years as a printing press operator at a company that didn't care about me. Now I have a great job working less hours and making more money.

I've taken several courses at HackerYou and the part time UX Design course was another (of many) great experiences. The class was led by Ricardo, and there were always an additional two mentors on hand to help answer any questions I had. The content was fantastic, I learned a lot during both the Intro and Advanced courses. The final project for the Intro was a UI design for an app (using Sketch). For the second half I completed a complex case study following UX research methods. I look forward to adding both projects to my portfolio.

I work as a web developer and this course was a huge benefit to my skill set. I was able to bring so many of the learnings back to my team, and we’ve already started integrating them in our work.

The environment at HackerYou is incredibly friendly, professional, and supportive. I was able to get really valuable feedback from the instructor and mentors throughout the course. They talked through design problems with me, and drastically improved my understanding of UX/UI. The students in my class were all eager to be there, and had a variety of skills and experience to bring to the table. Overall I had lots of laughs and left with a ton more experience.

Whenever I mention my education at HackerYou to folks in the design/tech industry, I’m always met with recognition and a positive response. The school has made an incredible mark on the Toronto tech industry, and it’s graduates are working all over the city. HackerYou is a wonderful network to be a part of and it’s reputation is fantastic for a reason. It has propelled my career forward and I’m so glad with my decision to study there.

I’m a front-end web developer (thanks to HackerYou bootcamp) and I work for a software company. I’ve got a background in design, and I knew I wanted to follow up my bootcamp experience with the HackerYou intro and advanced UX class with a plan to leverage more design opportunities in my current role.

Because I took both the part-time web development class and the bootcamp at HackerYou, they were already my top pick. I knew how the school structured their classes and that I would have access to great resources during the 12 weeks of the course. I checked out other UX programs in the city and online, but none of them offered the kind of learning and support that I knew I would get at HackerYou.

The class schedule was perfect. I work uptown and have a really hard time getting to weeknight classes, so committing to UX every Saturday was ideal. Even though class was only once a week, I had access to Ricardo, the lead instructor, and the two class mentors, Jas and Jen, throughout the week. They were available for extra help and to run through project ideas exactly when I needed them.

Ricardo has an abundance of enthusiasm (an essential quality for teaching a Saturday class) and experience. I found it very easy to learn because he integrated real-world examples with textbook theory and in-class exercises that helped me wrap my head around some tricky material. He taught masters-level UX concepts in a way that felt more like fun than learning, and when I was at home working on assignments I was surprised at how much material stuck in my head.

I was hoping for a class that gave me foundational UX design principles as well as the knowledge and skill to put together comprehensive case studies, and I finished the 12 weeks feeling confident and excited about what I had learned and how I could apply it.

In the time since UX class finished, I’ve been able to expand my job description to include extensive collaboration with the design and UX team.I’ve got more opportunities in my current role and more appreciation for the work that my colleagues put into designing applications.

If you’re looking for someone who will only teach you how to make pretty things, this might not be the best course for you. But if you want to learn how to use qualitative and quantitative research to solve problems with beautiful design, then you’ve hit the jackpot with this class.

I was a student in the Winter 2018 UX Design Class. What really stood out to me about HackerYou is the sense of community, and the extremely caring and knowledgeable instructors. My instructors are some of the most passionate people I have ever met, which made class a very enjoyable experience. I found that in taking this course, I was able to create a portfolio of work that also speaks to the design process, not just the final design. I think that having a design process is very important when speaking to potential employers, because they want to know how you think as a designer. The curriculum for the UX Design class was very comprehensive, and I especially enjoyed delving into the idea of wicked problems, divergence, and convergence. Throughout my classes I felt very supported by mentors and instructors, who encouraged us to ask questions and seek help. This course left me feeling extremely inspired and wanting to dig further into the idea of Service Design. I really think HackerYou’s UX course is unique in its focus on human-centered design, and not just focusing on the creation of wire-frames. HackerYou teaches you to study the problem from all angles in order to create a solution that benefits the people you are actually designing for.

Completing the part-time web development course at HackerYou has been one of the most positive and self-motivating experiences I've had. I have not only learned new valuable skills, but I've also pushed myself to learn things I once thought were out of my comfort zone and loved it. All of the staff are incredibly friendly, approachable and knowledgeable and always took the time to answer everyones questions with enthusiasm. I was set on taking the boot camp before taking the part-time course, and I'm still firmly acting on that decision, as I don't want my experience at HackerYou to end at this point. Nothing but great things to say!

Absolutely loved this course, was super fun. Community is great, teachers and leads always there to help you when you need it. If you interested in learning a new skill or thinking of a career change, wound highly reccomend this course.

I just completed a 12-week Part-Time Web Development program at HackerYou, and can say without a doubt that it was the most enriching learning experience of my life thus far.

From the moment I walked through the door for my tour of the campus, I've been greeted with a smile, and that feeling of welcomeness has been a common theme during my experience at HackerYou. My instructor, Kristen, and the mentoring made class a very fun and interactive learning experience and I looked forward to every class, which is saying lot for me since I've generally been disinterested and would lose focus with more traditional learning styles. I had no previous background in web development, and the facilitators are very patient and understanding in helping you learn each new concept.

However, as many people before me have mentioned, the big highlight for me has been the sense of community that HackerYou instilled from Day 1. I am looking forward to continuing the learning journey with the new friends I've made at the Bootcamp and beyond, and I feel that the Part-Time program has instilled the skills necessary to apply for the Bootcamp and succeed.

In recap, don't hesitate to learn at HackerYou if you have any interest in Web Development. You won't regret it.

As a HackerYou bootcamp grad (in 2014), looking into the school's other programs when I wanted to level up my skills was a no brainer. HackerYou has always stood out to me for its incredibly supportive learning environment and this course was no different. From the staff who helped me determine if the class was a right fit for me to the excellent instructor and mentors who not only taught in an engaging and accessible way, but also provided valuable one-on-one time to work through problems and challenges specific to our projects.

What really drew me to this course in particular was the curriculum. The course teaches technologies that are both current and well-used throughout the industry while presenting each part of the tech stack in a way I found extremely logical. On a personal level, they are also technologies that we are using more and more in my workplace. Being able to apply new skills to work projects right away is a great motivator when learning new things in the tech industry. I would highly recommend HackerYou in general and this course in particular to anyone interested in learning about web development.

I am just finishing up the part-time Web Development and I had such a positive experience. I came to HackerYou with essentially no coding experience and I know feel like I have been given a tiny key that basically unlocks the internet!

The instructor Jazzmin VanGeel was an excellent source of information and real world experience from the world of web dev. She was patient and took the time to try and answer every single question. The teaching assistants Melissa and Jaime were also super supportive and ready to help every step of the way.

The lessons are easy to understand and the class is packed with resources that I intend to keep practicing with on my own, even after the class is done.

I am finishing up the Part-time Web-development course at HackerYou (2018). It's really great experience to learn web development at HackerYou. The instructor Jazz is awesome to explain event hard concepts, always with some humours. I also love the way they run the classes: great materials, mentors are super helpful and using tool like basecamp & slack. All together it becomes one of my best learning experience. Highly recommended. Cheers!

Welcome to our last monthly coding bootcamp news roundup of 2016! Each month, we look at all the happenings from the coding bootcamp world from new bootcamps to fundraising announcements, to interesting trends we’re talking about in the office. This December, we heard about a bootcamp scholarship from Uber, employers who are happily hiring bootcamp grads, investments from New York State and a Tokyo-based staffing firm, diversity in tech, and as usual, new coding schools, courses, and campuses!

Welcome to the September 2016 Course Report monthly coding bootcamp news roundup! Each month, we look at all the happenings from the coding bootcamp world from new bootcamps to big fundraising announcements, to interesting trends. Of course, we cover our 2016 Outcomes and Demographics Report (we spent a ton of time on this one and hope everyone gets a chance to read it)! Other trends include growth of the industry, increasing diversity in tech through bootcamps, plus news about successful bootcamp alumni, and new schools and campuses. Read below or listen to our latest Coding Bootcamp News Roundup Podcast!

Canadian bootcamps are working hard to develop the talent needed to keep up with Canada’s growing tech hubs. StartUp Genome ranks Toronto and Vancouver amongst the top 20 startup ecosystems in the world. The Canadian tech economy as a whole is being fueled by thriving companies such as Shopify, HootSuite, Kik, Wattpad, and Erkem. Their success has generated a lot of interest among investors.

In 2016, $157 million was invested into 418 Canadian companies by angel investors, according to the National Angel Capital Organization 2016 Angel Investing Report.

Ahmed Omran is a passionate educator, web developer, and graduate of HackerYou in Toronto. Here, Ahmed describes "Learning Velocity," a measure of bootcamp efficacy, and how bootcamps can help their students accelerate through the course. Whether you're a student looking for advice or a bootcamp administrator looking to improve your students’ learning velocity, Ahmed is always available for a chat. Feel free to reach out to him on Twitter.

I was part of HackerYou’s first immersive development program as a student and later helped build the curriculum for subsequent cohorts. If there is one thing that I believe people should really focus on in bootcamps it's Learning Velocity. It's an informal measure of how much a person learns per unit of time. Keeping a high and consistent learning velocity is crucial.

If a student gets stuck then the learning stops and in a bootcamp environment students can't afford to fall behind. The learning obstacle needs to be dealt with right away. The student should of course try to "figure it out" but if it’s been 20 minutes and there is no progress then it’s time to ask for help. Taking enough time to figure it out -- without efficient help -- results in stress, tension and demotivation.

If the student is getting frustrated it's because they are not seeing the options that are available to them. They need someone to widen the lens by asking questions that lead to more options. A teacher/mentor/peer needs to use "growth responses" to point the student in the right direction. Answers get the student unstuck once but growth responses help the learner see how to navigate problems in a repeatable way.

Not all bootcamp experiences are equal. If you're considering applying to a program then you need to do your research and find out if the bootcamp has the proper support system. Find out if the bootcamp uses timely growth responses to keep learning velocity high. Ask them if they are committed to your learning velocity and what concrete steps do they take to accomplish this commitment.

Once you are immersed in the intense bootcamp experience make full use of the support system. Ask for help and advice as much as possible, ask questions about the material, and ask questions about your interests beyond the official curriculum. Don’t let pride, shyness or anything else get in the way of your learning. Your teachers, mentors and peers are there for a short period of time to help you so use the support system unabashedly.

To give you an example, HackerYou has a 1-to-8 mentor to student ratio and they use an app that my team developed to manage student questions efficiently. When HY students are working on a project and they get stuck, they communicate to everyone that they're stuck and the support system (mentors, teachers, peers) kicks in to get them help within minutes.

Bootcamps are a big departure from traditional education. Their immersive, intense instruction style has the potential to change our mainstream education system forever. But this is only if the proper structures are developed to ensure learning velocity stays high and no one falls behind or drops out who is genuinely trying.